


Unexpected Valentine

by swallowthewhale



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 17:12:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17791436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, Caitlin's day off, and it's the first warm day of the year. Caitlin's planning on relaxing and enjoying the warmth, but she didn't account for the stranger on her porch.





	Unexpected Valentine

Caitlin goes about her Saturday morning routine quietly, listening to the chirping of birds outside her window and the bubbling of her coffee maker. The bright sun is filtered through the filmy drapes over her double French doors, and Caitlin is looking forward to going outside with her morning coffee and the new issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering on her tablet to soak in the sun of the first warm day of the new year.

Caitlin is just stepping outside when she stops short, turning slowly to stare, baffled, at the man clutching her potted pine, fast asleep. He’s young, about her age, with long hair that falls over his face. And he’s snoring. Caitlin sits, sipping her coffee, and considering her options. On the one hand, he’s right outside her door, which would be concerning if two, he hadn’t fallen asleep there. Caitlin can’t think of many reasons that a would-be intruder would fall asleep before actually intruding.

She decides to wait. The sun is bright, and eventually the man will wake up. Caitlin has her cell phone in her pocket, and, even on such a warm day, her powers linger just below her skin. She doesn’t have to wait long. The man startles awake, mid-snore, frowning in confusion as he pushes his hair off his face, then yelping and falling backwards against the railing when he spots Caitlin.

“Good morning,” Caitlin says calmly. “Sleep well?”

He squints up at her. “Do I know you?”

“I hope not,” she replies. “Do you?”

The man sits up again, looking around.

“Why are you here?” Caitlin asks, crossing her legs. “And more importantly, how did you get here? We’re eighteen floors up.”

The man stares at her, wide-eyed, before leaning over to look through the railing at the distant courtyard below. “Um,” he says.

Caitlin raises an eyebrow.

“Funny story,” he hedges. “I, um, don’t remember.”

Caitlin’s eyebrow inches higher.

He cowers a little. “Hey, look, if you could just let me out, I’ll be out of your hair. I promise.”

“And what makes you think I trust you enough to let you into my apartment?” Caitlin asks icily. “Why don’t you just get yourself down the same way you got yourself up?” She isn’t really scared of him, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to believe this is all a ploy to get inside. There are plenty of people in the city who would love to know where Frost’s alter ego sleeps at night.

He deflates. “Right, yeah. I guess I could, um, climb down.” He peeks over the edge again and cringes.

Caitlin rolls her eyes. “Maybe prove that I can trust you and I’ll let you take the stairs,” she relents. Why is she so eager to trust this guy? Maybe it’s those big, brown eyes. She’s a sucker for those.

He perks up. “I’m Cisco,” he says, holding out his hand from his position cross-legged on the floor.

She shakes it.

“And I’m really sorry that I’m on your balcony,” Cisco continues, bright eyes fixed on hers now. “I must have gotten really drunk last night, and I think it was a dare to get up to one of the balconies? But I don’t remember much and I may have gotten stuck. Your plant is very nice by the way. Made a pretty comfortable pillow.” Caitlin must not look like she believes him, because he continues, “I swear.” He puts a hand on his heart. “I really didn’t mean to break onto your balcony.” Sheepishly, he adds, “I shouldn’t have tried to break onto _anyone’s_ balcony.”

“That’s true,” Caitlin says.

“I, um, I’m a mechanical engineer. I work at Palmer Tech, I’ve never been arrested, and, um, well I know Detective Joe West at CCPD pretty well. He’s my best friend’s dad. I could call him and he could vouch for me?” Cisco stares up at her with huge, hopeful eyes.

Caitlin sighs. “That’s okay, I believe you. And for some reason I trust you.” She stands and waves him inside.

Cisco tucks his hands firmly in his pockets as he follows her. Caitlin lays her tablet on the kitchen counter as they pass by.

“Oh hey,” Cisco says, “those are pretty.” 

He nods at the bouquet of red roses on Caitlin’s table.

“Thanks,” Caitlin says absently, searching her purse for her keys.

“Special someone?” Cisco asks.

“Oh, um, not exactly,” Caitlin says, finally looking up. “They’re for my fiancee. He loved Valentine’s Day.”

“Oh,” Cisco says. Then, “ _oh_. I’m sorry.”

Caitlin half shrugs. “It’s been a while. He died in the Star Labs explosion a few years ago.”

Cisco blinks at her. “Man, I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.” Caitlin waves her keys. “Come on, I’ll let you out.”

 

Every day for a week after Cisco mysteriously appeared on her balcony, Caitlin sees him _everywhere_. He’s two aisles down at her favorite grocery store, he’s on his way out of Jitters as she’s heading in, at the bus stop as Caitlin drives by, and most often, sitting on a park bench when Caitlin goes for her walk.

It’s not until they bump into each other at midnight on patrol outside the police station that Caitlin glares him down, hands on her hips. She wouldn’t have recognized him if he’d been wearing his dark-tinted goggles, but with them down around his neck, she wondered how she hadn’t connected Cisco to him before.

Cisco holds his hands up, grinning, “I swear I’m not following you.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “I don’t remember seeing you all over the place before you mysteriously appeared on my balcony,” she snaps. “But looking, back, I’m pretty sure you remembered how you got there.”

“Okay, you got me,” Cisco says amicably. “I totally breached up there. It really was a stupid dare though, and I really was pretty drunk. Once I got up there, I was so tired that I fell asleep. I meant to be gone before you woke up.”

“You knew who I was?” Caitlin asks, voice dangerously low.

“Um,” Cisco says, more nervously now. “Yeah? I mean we live just a few blocks apart and I see you all the time. It didn’t take long to realize you were Frost. You don’t even wear a mask. And I see you on your balcony all the time, so in my drunken state, I thought your balcony would be better than terrifying some poor old lady. You don’t scare that easily and I know you can defend yourself.” He clamps his mouth shut to prevent more rambling.

“And you knew I would probably be on patrol,” Caitlin points out.

Cisco gives her a tiny shrug. “I’m really sorry,” he says earnestly. “I was meaning to introduce myself at some point. I was still kind of figuring out how without it being creepy.”

Caitlin shoots him a meaningful look.

“Yeah, yeah,” he runs a hand through his hair. “Still pretty creepy. Can we start over?” He asks weakly. “I really like you, and I’d really like to get to know you better, if you could give me another shot.”

Caitlin examines him for a moment. He’s probably the most genuine person she’s ever met, even though he did break onto her balcony. And there’s those eyes. “No more breaching onto my balcony,” she says sternly.

Cisco lights up. “Done.”

“Good.” Caitlin says, then steps forward, tilts his face up with a cool hand, and kisses him.

He kisses her back just as hard, but still blinks at her, dazed and grinning, when she steps away.

“Don’t be late,” Caitlin warns, and walks away.

She can just about feel his megawatt smile burning into her back. “I won’t,” he says.

Caitlin rolls her eyes. She’s not even going to ask how he knows when late would even be. He is Vibe, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> It's really short, but I wrote something! 
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
